According to Experian research, only 35% of companies manage their data in an organized manner. Chaos in the customer database and irrelevant data leads to loss of customers – because you can’t sell anything to a customer without knowing them. We tell you how to manage your customer database so that customers stay with your company for a long time.
The more customer data you have, the better. And you don’t have to worry about customer opposition. According to consulting firm Accenture, 73% of customers encourage the collection and use of personal data if it’s needed to improve service.
In addition, some companies collect extended information about customers, which includes information about family, interests and preferences, and hobbies. This data allows for maximum personalization of offers and increases customer loyalty. If you order ERP software development services, then you have even better control over your business. For example, a clothing store, knowing that the customer has children, can offer children’s items at a discount.
How to collect customer data
There are many ways to maintain and collect customer data: surveys, website forms, social media analysis, etc. Let’s look at some of them.
1. Website subscription form. At the first stage of acquaintance with the brand, the client is not ready to tell much about himself. For example, to give his phone number, write the city of residence, etc. In this case, the subscription form, in which you only need to specify the name and email, is perfect for the first touch with the client.
In exchange for a subscription, you can promise a discount or a small gift in the form of a free webinar or e-book.
2. questionnaire when placing an order. More detailed information about the client can be collected when placing an order. For example, add a phone number, delivery address, date of the client’s birthday, etc. to the personal data. If you work in the B2B segment, then the name of the company.
Be sure to include “consent to receive newsletters” and “consent to process personal data” in the form, otherwise you may risk a fine from Roskomnadzor – from 15 to 75 thousand roubles.
Chat-bot for data collection. With chatbot you can collect both basic – email, phone number, and advanced information about your clients – age, preferences, budget. The advantage of chatbots over standard questionnaires is that the client doesn’t need to fill out a large number of fields at once. The user shares information by answering chat-bot questions, sometimes in an interactive form.
4. a mailing survey. If you already have an email address of a potential customer, you can get to know them better through a newsletter survey. Let’s say you own a pet store. You can add a survey to your welcome email series and find out what kind of pet your subscriber has. This will allow you to make personalized offers to customers and not send messages about hamster food discounts to dog and cat owners.
How to group your customers
Customer segmentation allows you to find similar “types” in your base and develop tactics for working with each. Someone needs to be motivated by discounts, someone to keep on “pause” until new products appear, someone to hold on to with special loyalty programs. You can not act with all customers by the same method, because each lead to their own threads.
There are several approaches to grouping customers.
By “temperature”
- “Cold” customers. So far, they are indifferent to your products or services. They either don’t know about them or don’t need them. These are customers with whom you haven’t yet reached out to, or who have responded negatively to your offers.
- “Warm” customers. Have some interest in your products, are considering them as an option. For example, subscribed to your mailing list, registered on the website or expressed interest when contacting a manager.
- “Hot” customers. Are ready to buy your products (are in the process of discussing/concluding the deal, have put the product in the cart) or already do it regularly.
By behavioral pattern
- Loyal customers. Make frequent purchases, do not switch to other brands. Usually constitute no more than 20% of the total mass, but give at least 50% of income.
- Discount customers. They buy actively, but only if they get benefits and discounts.
- Impulse clients. They act according to the situation.
- Purposeful customers. Have clear needs and intend to satisfy them.
- Interested customers. Don’t have clear needs, don’t know what they want.
The manager can specify the client’s features in the CRM system in the client card, for example, in the above-mentioned user fields, based on the history of communication with him.
By value
According to Pareto’s law, 20% of your customers will bring you 80% of the profits. You can identify them using ABC analysis: customers are divided into the most valuable (A, bringing 75% of profits), intermediate (B – 20% of profits), the least valuable (C – 5% of profits). Obviously, it’s worth spending more time and resources on the more valuable customers than on the others. Otherwise you risk investing 100% of your time on the wrong leads.
Where to keep a client base
Keeping a customer database can be implemented in a spreadsheet – Microsoft Excel or Google Drive, or the old-fashioned way – in a notebook, but it’s more effective to work with a customer database in a CRM system.
According to Software Advice, an analytics company, 74% of companies believe that implementing CRM seriously improves the customer experience, and 77% of companies have reported an increase in conversions after implementing CRM.
In CRM you can:
- Keep a timeline of work with each customer and access any customer’s data in two clicks;
- record any data on customers, and then filter the database by this indicator: car brand, date of birth, pets, age, etc;
- set up integration with third-party services to send emails and make calls to customers directly from the CRM. At the same time, a record of the call and letter will be saved in the client’s card;
- see how clients are distributed in the sales funnel;
- find duplicates in the client database and keep all of the contractors’ contacts up to date.
How to ensure data security